TaltosVT

The decision to try the swap via mail was based on the results of our survey. As I stated in my post on the RAILBRICKS sites, the costs involved are one of the reasons that we're looking for feedback on the guidelines. One thought that I had would be to have "drop-points" in various countries, which would then forward to the central point. For instance, clubs in Australia could ship to a central person in Australia, then that person could forward a single larger package to the U.S. where the swap packages would be made up, then sent back out in a reverse process. Another reason for an initial swap via mail is that not everyone can make it to an event. For instance, it's not likely that I'll be able to make it to a FreeLUG event any time soon, but by swapping via mail, my club could receive a French container, and theirs could recieve ours in return. We're definately open to suggestions on how we could keep the shipping costs down. We'd like as many people and groups as possible to be able to participate. For the sake of disclosure, RAILBRICKS would likely cover the costs if we had the money. Realistically though, the only income we make is from the few sales of the printed version of the magazine, and that money barely covers the costs of our server upkeep. -Elroy

The containers are a way to share your club, event, layout, etc. with others. If you take a look at the photo on the current RAILBRICKS home page (http://railbricks.com/), you can see an example of the older style of containers that used to be traded. Clubs added their logos, images and so on. Think of it as the train version of trading cards. While we're setting this swap up to be via mail, swaps have occurred in the past at various events. Our goal is to revive the tradition. If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to ask on the RAILBRICKS forums. I'll also keep an eye on this thread and answer when I can. -Elroy

It sounds to me like the issue isn't so much running PF trains on the group's layout, but having PF track on your section of the layout, which would limit the 9v members from running on your section. If you did invest in the 9v track, you'd be able to run both. You wouldn't need to convert your trains, just your track. If it ever does get to a point where the entire group switches to PF, you could either keep running on the 9v track, or sell it to regain the original expense. I don't think you'd lose anything by investing in the 9v. -Elroy

That's not far off. As editor of RAILBRICKS, I take full responsibility. As Steinkopf mentioned, the magazine is put together by volunteers during whatever time we have available. As such, there's really no set schedule. Ideally I'd love to be able to release an issue every quarter. Realistically, it's very difficult to do without it being a full time job for someone with a paid staff. For a little more detail, our process goes something like this: 1) Gather/write articles - This is what the majority of our volunteers do. Once we have enough articles to fill an issue, we go into the editing phase. Sometimes we get a lot of article submissions, and sometimes we're out begging people to write something. This step sometimes takes months. 2) Edit articles - This is one of my main jobs. Editing includes selecting the articles for publication, correcting spelling/grammar, rewording unclear portions, and generally working with the article authors to make sure that we present the best article possible. I try to do this step as articles come in, but that's not always possible. Once the article is edited, we move into layout. 3) Layout articles - This is my other major job. Right now, I do all the physical layout of the pages. This is pretty time intensive. It's also, however, the most fun part. It can also be the most frustrating part as you need to make sure you can fit everything into an even number of pages, not have any hanging words on paragraphs, get the the best photos possibles, etc. 4) Proofing - Once layout is finished, we go into proofing. An initial copy of the magazine is sent to our volunteers, and they come back with any mistakes that I've made in editing and/or layout. Steve J. is our main proofing guy right now, but everyone lends a hand if they are available. 5) Fixing errors - This is a lighter version of step 3. 6) Release - Once we're happy with the magazine, it gets sent to MagCloud for the print version, and posted to the website for the PDF version. This is where everyone cheers and we start the process over again. There's also upkeep of the website and Facebook page that goes on outside of production of the magazine. So, after that long-winded answer, I can tell you that Issue 13 is at step 2. I have enough articles to fill an issue. I'm in the process of editing and laying them out. I know that it's been awhile since the last release, so I've asked for some help since I haven't been able to dedicate the time that I would like to it. My hope is to release the next issue this Summer. To LEGO Guy Bri's point, "Summer" could end up being "Fall" depending on time available. I'd love to give a definitive answer on an actual date, but short of quitting my day job and selling my children, my time available for working on the magazine is limited. The other volunteers are in the same situation. Rest assured, however, we are still working on the magazine and website. We're also working on organizing a container swap (check out http://railbricks.com/forums/general-discussion/general/railbricks-organized-container-swap/ for more information), so the group is still active, we're just quietly plugging away at things at the moment. Apologies for the long-winded answer, but I believe in being as transparent as possible. Hopefully information on the behind-the-scenes helps a little. -Elroy RAILBRICK Editor

Very cool! I had done some similar a few years ago (http://www.nelug.org/mediagallery/album.php?aid=374&page=1). My original plan was to build a train car to go along with each of the villains, then a caboose for Robin. I think I only managed to get as far as an orange and purple boxcar for the Joker. -Elroy

These are all great ideas! Keep them coming! Hrw-Amen brought up some good points: The guidelines are sort of a best-case scenario. They really are just guildlines, not hard and fast rules. The closer you can get to the guidelines, the easier it is for us to edit, but as Zephyr mentions above, don't let the guidelines or language get in your way. I've recieved articles in all forms, e-mail, text files, finished PDF, Word documents, etc., and by many authors who write English as a second or third language. What we're really after is good content. Photographs are a bit tougher. I have some control over color-correction and cropping, but I can only work with what I am given. For photos, the larger and clearer the better. We can scale images down, but they are very difficult, if not impossible, to scale up without losing resolution. Anthony Sava wrote a nice article in Issue 7 about his process for photographing. I know The Brothers Brick have covered that topic as well. In truth, I have trouble photographing MOCs as well, due to the lighting in my work area. We look into the printed issue from time to time. Right now, MagCloud print-on-demand is still our best option. We don't have enough volume to pay to have issues produced in a "real" print run. I agree though, having a printed issue in hand is really nice. I've also been tentatively looking at various options for things like Kindle readers and tablets. Right now it seems like the PDF version is still best for online viewing, but I'd be interested in hearing readers thoughts on that. -Elroy

All, I hope everyone enjoyed the last issue of RAILBRICKS magazine. As editor of the magazine, I really enjoy interacting with rail fans and putting together each issue. One of my personal goals as a RAILBRICKS team member is to attempt to put out issues of the magazine on a quarterly basis. To reach this goal, however, I need your help. While some members of the RAILBRICKS team enjoy writing articles for us, we really rely on submissions from LEGO train fans around the world. Without your articles and model instructions, we don't have a magazine. With Issue 12 finished, I've begun looking forward to our next issue. I would encourage anyone who had been thinking about submitting an article, idea, or set of instructions for publication in the magazine to do so. Many members from EuroBricks have submitted articles in the past, resulting in some great material. If you have a finished article, or an idea for an article, please feel free to email me at editor@railbricks.com. Likewise, if you are interested in writing an article, but don't have any ideas, please feel free to reach out. We have a lot of ideas for articles that we don't have time to write ourselves. As always, I look forward to seeing what the community can come up with! -Elroy P.S. On another personal note, after four years, I'm finally starting to get my building area back together again. Hopefully I'll have some models of my own to share with everyone in the next few months. :-)

I think the longest that I've done on my own is probably still my Brickling Brothers Circus train from years ago. Since the original, I've added/removed cars depending on circumstances. Unfortunately most of it is now in pieces after years of use. -Elroy

RAILBRICKS Issue #11 is now available for download: http://railbricks.com/magazine/issue-11/ This issue covers a variety of topics, and includes a great set of steam locomotive instructions by Tim Gould. Enjoy! -Elroy

If you don't receive a reply, you can email it to editor[at]railbricks.com as well. I generally try to check that account at least once a week. This is also a good time for me to put in a request for articles. If anyone would like to contribute an article to the magazine, please email the text, photos, etc. to the editor address as well. We're always on the lookout for material, and enjoy including articles from our readers. -Elroy

The L-shaped layout looks good. My layout from a couple of years ago (Flickr Link) started out as a smaller L-shape, then grew over the span of a couple of years. Another idea, if you have space and don't need to run in a loop, would be a point-to-point shelf layout along a wall. My layout was a point-to-point for over a year until I added the diagonal bridge to tie my tables together. -Elroy

Here's a quick idea that I put together this morning. It's just a simple loop with a couple of sidings. I used the flex-track for the harbor siding. This would give you three main areas for scenery: a railyard, the town, and a port. I also added in a few ideas for smaller scenes like the waterfront park and wooded area. -Elroy

One of my favorite switch designs was by Rick Clark. It used a minifig spear to move the switch. His original design is still on Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=18637 A few years ago, I built a version for my own use with a 9v motor: http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=29992 The 9v motor could easily be replaced with a PF motor. My favorite design with a signal installed is also on Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=11064 -Elroy

While I've been working on the next issue of RAILBRICKS magazine, Jeramy Spurgeon has been quietly working in the background to upgrade the RAILBRICKS website. In addition to hosting the RB Blog and Instructions repository, additional functionality has been added to the site, including a forum area, gallery, events calendar, and more. I've only begun to explore all the features myself, but I would encourage everyone to visit and look over the changes. http://railbricks.com -Elroy

Here's the thread that I remember in regards to an official LEGO-compatible coupler: http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=25596 If you follow the thread, it looks like someone else was talking to them a few years before that. -Elroy

A search of lugnet.com for Kadee will also turn up a lot of discussions, some going back to 2001. I haven't tried this solution myself, but from what I've seen, it works very well. -Elroy

It looks like we're back up and running as of this morning. We're currently looking into a few different solutions to hopefully keep this from happening again. Thanks everyone for being patient while we were down. -Elroy

We're looking into the issue now. Our hosting company claims that we exceeded our bandwidth allowance. We'll let everyone know once we're up and running again. -Elroy

Good news! RAILBRICKS Issue #9 is now available for download. You can find the latest issue on the RAILBRICKS website: RAILBRICKS Issue 9 Printed versions are also available for purchase at MagCloud.com. Enjoy! -Elroy

That's a great question, as it would definitely influence the level of writing. I would see the target audience being the same as for the magazine, which is teen and adult builders. This is all great feedback, not only for a book wish-list, but also for the magazine. Keep the ideas flowing! -Elroy

In a recent thread about a bad LEGO train book, it was mentioned that perhaps the RAILBRICKS crew could put together a *good* train book. The RAILBRICKS team has actually thought about this in the past. Two topics usually come up: What would we put in it, and could we put it together and have it printed for an affordable price? My first question: What would people like to see in such a book? My second question: Realistically, how much would you be willing to pay for such a book? The second question isn't because we'd like to make a profit. The reason I ask is that if such a book were created, we'd likely go with a print-on-demand service, and the amount that people would be willing to spend may drive the page count that we would be able to work with. And with all that said, putting together a book is a huge undertaking. If we did tackle a project like this, it may be some time before it would be released. Our first priority would still be the magazine, but even that is something that we work on when we're not dealing with our regular jobs and non-hobby lives (Issue 9 is coming though, I promise!). -Elroy

Is Thorsten Benter's article on page 46 of RAILBRICKS Issue #7 the one you are thinking about? He wrote up a nicely detailed summary of mixing the two systems. RAILBRICKS Magazine Issues -Elroy

I just finished building my set this evening. I was actually missing two 1x4 plates out of mine. Not a big deal, as I could pull some out of my collection, except that one of the missing ones was Maersk blue, so I had to swap out one of the ones hidden inside the refrigerated container. I do agree that the side walls are a bit flimsy. I found that they stay in place best when the handrails are pushed up next to them. Overall, though, I really enjoyed building this set, and I think it looks incredible. Other than the side walls, it's sturdy enough that I didn't mind letting my two year-old drive it around the living room, and it feels heavy enough that it should be a good puller if I decide to motorize it. -Elroy

Great work so far. I really like the solution for the windshield. If it were me, I would have the handrail stay attached to the cab, and have the coupler and plow rotate. If you attach it to the bogie, I think will draw more attention as the handrail will change positions as the locomotive goes through curves and switches. The steps/ladders on either side of the platform could be attached to the bogie though. Can't wait to see the finished product. It looks really nice so far. -Elroy

After reading this, it made me curious about what I could use half-length straits for. I mocked up a quick test in BlueBrick of a simple yard. Currently, you have to put a full straight between switches so that the handles aren't overlapped by the curve on the last switch. With half straights, you could get the switches closer together, and add more track to the spurs. Quarter lengths would bring them even closer, though there's not as much of a gain (at least in this scenario). For my mock-up, I assumed a train car to be about two track lengths long. Using the smaller lengths, the capacity of a yard could be increased by up to 40%. Top image, full straights. Middle is with half straights between switches and at the ends of spurs. Bottom is with quarters between switches, and half and quarters at the ends of spurs. -Elroy